The information age..

Many of you will have read the stories today where the information commissioner has come out and lambasted lots of organisations (Banks, Mobile phone companies, government departments to name just a few) about data security. If you haven't the story can be read here http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=422183&in_page_id=2&ct=5 or here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6289410.stm

What he basically says is that large organisations are not very good at safeguarding all the personal data they hold on us.

Obviously this will come as no surprise to anyone who has ever worked with IT systems. It is far easier to let someone else pop onto your computer and access something than to log off, make them log on and then log on again yourself. And this data should come as no surprise to the government since a similar report a couple of years ago pointed out that approximately 30,000 NHS staff routinely shared log on details.

Why people don't take more care is a mystery to me personally, having worked for an organisation where people would love to log on using someone else's password and send the MD an e-mail or tell customers the truth about products. Unfortunately I suppose its like checking bank statements, no one really takes any notice of it until they get caught out!

What is slightly more worrying is that the government are to shortly start compiling a national database of people's identities and you really have to ask yourself exactly how safe this database will really be???

Airport security...

I know that unless you've been living in a cave for the last week or so you'll all be aware of the recent terrorist attacks carried out in the UK (both successful and unsuccessful).

Therefore it came as no surprise when I recently flew between Stanstead and Edinburgh the heightened state of alert at these two airports and I was not surprised to see that no one is now allowed to set down in front of either airport any more.

What did surprise me somewhat though was the fact that I was allowed to carry an open bottle of Lucozade sport through security without anyone questioning anything.

OK it was an accident and I didn't realise I had the drink in my bag at the time but the fact that the tray was given a good going over by the scanner operator made the lapse in security very surprising.

Cycling in Cambridge

A few months ago I moved house which means that I now have a 3 mile cycle ride into work every morning. To be honest I actually like cycling and find it very therapeutic but I have found that over the last week or so I have also had to relearn the rules of the road as applied to cyclists in this lovely town of Cambridge…

Now we all know that road users have to follow certain rules on the roads to keep themselves and others safe and these rules are printed in the “Highway Code”. It appears that the Highway Code used in Cambridge is slightly different to that used by the rest of the country and to be honest I’m finding it all very confusing.

For example, in Cambridge it appears that red traffic lights are only there for information and at best they only apply to powered vehicles. Pedestrians and cyclists are allowed to ignore red lights altogether and frequently do. This obviously also applies to pelican and puffin crossings too!

Another good example is the fact that cyclist do not need to give way when joining a main road from a side street. In fact this rule change is so well entrenched that it is not even necessary for cyclists to look for other road users when performing this manoeuvre as the onus is firmly on the other road users to allow the cyclist to pull out. The only stipulation seems to be that the cyclist must cycle slowly when pulling out AND when cycling up the road they have just joined.

Also, did you know that there is an unofficial maximum speed limit for cycling in Cambridge of 7 mph???

Now I know what you are thinking and that is that its just the new students getting used to cycling instead of having mummy or daddy run them to school in the morning, but alas this is not the case and young and old alike act the same way so it MUST be a different Highway Code?

Still, it makes cycling to work and back “interesting” if a little terrifying at times…